Field of the Invention
This invention relates to shipping pallets, and, more particularly, to shipping pallets fabricated, at least in part, from paper and paper based products.
Description of the Related Art
Traditional wood structural members have been used in a wide variety of applications. For example, shipping pallets have been constructed of wood structural members in the form of slats and/or runners or stringers of various dimensions. Such wooden shipping pallets are relatively costly even though made of relatively poor quality wood. The hasty assembly and poor wood quality result in shipping pallets that may rapidly become damaged to the point of being unusable. Moreover, such shipping pallets are relatively heavy, resulting in additional shipping costs to the shipper due to weight and volume of the pallets. Damaged and otherwise unusable shipping pallets may present a disposal problem.
As a result, shipping pallets fabricated from other materials have been developed, such as shipping pallets that include structural members fabricated from fiberboard sheets. Such shipping pallets may be at least partly recyclable. However, structural members fabricated from fiberboard sheets have been deficient in areas of strength, durability, and are prone to warping so that shipping pallets fabricated from such structural members may be deficient in performance.
Therefore, a need exists for shipping pallets that may be strong, durable, and, at least in part, recyclable.